Petro-Canada expands North Sea assets

Petro-Canada has today agreed to acquire a 29.9 per cent interest in the Buzzard oil field in the UK North Sea for $840 million.

Petro-Canada today announced it has agreed to acquire a 29.9 per cent interest in the Buzzard oil field in the UK North Sea for $840 million.

Buzzard, operated by EnCana (UK) and located 100 kilometres northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland is currently under development, with first oil expected by the end of 2006. Petro-Canada’s share of peak production is expected to average 60,000 barrels per day.

“This acquisition adds a superb new core asset to our portfolio,” said Petro-Canada President and CEO, Ron Brenneman. “It’s a perfect fit with our international growth strategy, since it builds on our existing base of operations in Northwest Europe.”

As part of the transaction, Petro-Canada will purchase Intrepid Energy North Sea Limited, whose major asset is the 29.9 per cent working interest in Buzzard. Original oil in place for the field is estimated to be about 1.2 billion barrels and Petro-Canada currently estimates that recovery will be in the order of 550 million barrels of oil.

“The UK North Sea is an excellent place to do business, and we expect this asset to continue our history of profitable production in the region,” added Brenneman. “We see technical and operational upside at Buzzard and we believe this field will continue the region’s track record of big fields getting even bigger over time.”